2012 Minicamp Wrap-Up

Minicamp wrapped up yesterday and apparently not a hell of a lot happened on the field except Donald Penn catching a punt from the JUGGS machine to end practice early, because that’s all anyone was talking about. Including Penn.

“I was joking around with coach [Schiano] about what a great athlete I am and he threw that up there and I did a good job,” Penn said. “I know I can catch and you guys [the media] know I can catch. If I had dropped it we would have had to continue practicing. So since I caught it we ended practice early, which is great. We have been working hard, real hard, and put in a lot of work. And for him to do that today just shows how much work we put in and [that we’re] doing a good job for coach to give us that day off.

That actually does say a lot about how well Schiano thinks the player are doing. He doesn’t seem like the kind of coach who would end practice early if he was even the least bit dissatisfied in the team’s efforts. Penn also had a couple interesting comments about practice as a whole.

Penn went on to talk about the difference in this season’s OTAs and mini-camps versus years past.

“To tell you the truth, the intensity. Coach asked for it to be here and it stayed there all three days,” Penn said. “And it didn’t drop, really. That’s the one big thing you have to take into the next few weeks off and take into camp.”

One word rarely use to describe Raheem Morris‘s camps was “intense”. Morris said he liked to bring “juice” to camp, but I think he meant actual juice because everyone seemed very hydrated but not terribly motivated. All that changes this year.

Penn also notes that he’s getting married in July. Congratulations to Donald! And I say that with absolutely no sarcasm.

Lots of interviews were printed yesterday, including one from LeGarrette Blount who has encouraging things to say about what he’s working on this offseason.

“I’ve been working on pass protection and picking up the blitzes this offseason,” Blount said. “That’s the thing I’ve been working on the most. I can say that’s what I’ve improved on the most.”

You know defenses are going to target Blount when he’s on the field because of his reputation for not being able to handle those responsibilities. If he can jam his helmet into a rushing linebackers chest and put him on the ground to protect Josh Freeman, that will go a long way to proving he can be the every-down back that most peoplesome people I think he can be. It’s a good interview that also covers his progress on catching passes and securing the ball.

One Comment to “2012 Minicamp Wrap-Up”

And then Winslow said, “Real sh-t. Real shi-t. Schiano came over there, uh, [bleeping?] ‘TOES ON THE LINE! TOES ON THE LINE!’ Blowing the whistle. You can’t laugh. You can’t joke around. So I decided not to go to OTAs,” Winslow said. “You know they got my man Ra [Raheem Morris] up out of there, and I was loyal to him. Woulda take a bullet for that dude. So I had to roll, man.”

“The cool thing about Rah is, Rah could be here talking to us right now,” Winslow said. “He wasn’t a company coach. He was a player’s coach. I mean, just everything about him man. He was real. You could talk to him face-to-face, real man-to-man. They fired the wrong dude up there.”

Wow. Just wow. Can I un-think every decent thought I’ve had about him the last couple years?

On the other hand… if Winslow hates Shiano, maybe that means something good for us this year.